Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities - Division on ...

ta<strong>in</strong> the acquired tasks overtime? (c) Will students
generalize the acquired tasks across people,
materials, <strong>and</strong> sett<strong>in</strong>gs?
Method
Participants
Three students referred to the developmental
disabilities unit of the Research Institute for
the H<strong>and</strong>icapped at Anadolu University, Turkey
to enroll <strong>in</strong> a special education support
service participated. They were <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong>
regular education classrooms at various levels
(preschool, primary, <strong>and</strong> secondary grades).
Each student was taught a different discrete
task us<strong>in</strong>g different stimuli. Students ranged
<strong>in</strong> age from 6 to 13 years. No student received
medication or had known sensory impairments
that affected his or her participation.
Erol was a six year four month old, male. He
functioned <strong>in</strong> the mild range of mental retardation
with an IQ score of 58 accord<strong>in</strong>g to the
Stanford-B<strong>in</strong>et Intelligence Scale (SBIS). He
was able to <strong>in</strong>itiate <strong>and</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> communication.
He performed many gross motor <strong>and</strong>
f<strong>in</strong>e motor skills of his age. He was able to
perform most self-care skills <strong>in</strong>dependently.
His weaknesses were <strong>in</strong> problem solv<strong>in</strong>g, acquir<strong>in</strong>g
some concepts such as positions <strong>and</strong>,
contrast. He attended a preschool program
four days a week for four hours each day <strong>and</strong>
was <strong>in</strong> a regular class with 16 other children.
He attended morn<strong>in</strong>g sessions.
Yunus was an eight year 10 month old,
male. He had Down syndrome <strong>and</strong> functioned
<strong>in</strong> the moderate range of mental retardation
with an IQ score of 38 accord<strong>in</strong>g to the SBIS.
Yunus’ strengths were his gross <strong>and</strong> f<strong>in</strong>e motor
skills, performed most self-care skills <strong>in</strong>dependently.
Areas of weaknesses <strong>in</strong>cluded receptive
<strong>and</strong> expressive communication skills, social
peer <strong>in</strong>teraction, <strong>and</strong> perceptual discrim<strong>in</strong>ation
skills. He attended a primary school program
five days a week for three hours each day
<strong>and</strong> was <strong>in</strong> a regular class with 25 other children.
He attended afternoon sessions.
Yasem<strong>in</strong> was a 13 year 8 month old, female.
She functioned <strong>in</strong> the moderate range of
mental retardation with an SBIS IQ score of
45. Her weaknesses <strong>in</strong>cluded vocational skills,
communication skills, community skills, <strong>and</strong>
social peer <strong>in</strong>teraction, while her strengths
<strong>in</strong>cluded basic read<strong>in</strong>g, math, <strong>and</strong> money
skills. She attended a secondary school program
five days a week for three hours each day
<strong>and</strong> was <strong>in</strong> a regular class with 30 other children.
She attended morn<strong>in</strong>g sessions.
Prerequisite skills were determ<strong>in</strong>ed through
tra<strong>in</strong>er observation prior to <strong>in</strong>itiation of the
study. Each student (a) could attend to a task
for 10-15 m<strong>in</strong>, (b) possessed adequate visual
acuity to see target words, numbers, <strong>and</strong> time
on a clock when they were presented <strong>in</strong> their
various forms, (c) possessed adequate auditory
acuity to hear the discrim<strong>in</strong>ative stimulus,
controll<strong>in</strong>g prompt, <strong>and</strong> praise statements,
<strong>and</strong> (d) could verbally <strong>and</strong> physically imitate a
teacher’s model. In addition, Yasem<strong>in</strong> named
numbers 1 to 12, <strong>and</strong> named hour h<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong>
m<strong>in</strong>ute h<strong>and</strong> of any clock. Secondary re<strong>in</strong>forcers
also were identified for each student prior
to the study.
The author conducted all experimental sessions,
<strong>and</strong> a special education teacher tra<strong>in</strong>ed
<strong>in</strong> data collection procedures collected reliability
data.
Sett<strong>in</strong>g
All experimental sessions were conducted <strong>in</strong>dividually
<strong>in</strong> a room (6 mX6m)located at
the Research Institute for the H<strong>and</strong>icapped.
Instruction was <strong>in</strong> a 1:1 arrangement. Tra<strong>in</strong>er
<strong>and</strong> student sat face to face at a table. Sessions
occurred on week days.
Experimental Design
A multiple probe design across behaviors <strong>and</strong>
replicated across students was used to evaluate
effectiveness of simultaneous prompt<strong>in</strong>g procedures.
Experimental control is demonstrated
when a change <strong>in</strong> the dependent variable
occurred only after the <strong>in</strong>dependent
variable was implemented <strong>in</strong> a time lagged
fashion (Tawney, & Gast, 1984).
General Procedures
70 / <strong>Education</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Developmental</strong> <strong>Disabilities</strong>-March 2005
The tra<strong>in</strong>er used a simultaneous prompt<strong>in</strong>g
procedure to teach students with mental retardation.
Tasks for each student <strong>in</strong>itially <strong>in</strong>cluded
three sets of stimuli. The tra<strong>in</strong>er conducted
one session per day, which consisted of
a daily probe session followed by the tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g
session. The maximum amount of time allocated
for each session was about 10 m<strong>in</strong>. Ses-